Gantry Crane Guidance System
The Gantry Crane Guidance System (GCGS) is integrated with Rubber Tyre Gantry (RTG) cranes to safely move and stack shipping containers for improved productivity, safety and minimized physical damage of infrastructure and containers used in intermodal operations. The GCGS controls steering via autosteering (AS), track and reports the position and movement of RTG's to an accuracy of 5 cm for each wheel and includes speed control and disabling if an impending incursion is detected.
The GCGS system is built on the Octagon Trax-5 platform that is field proven in extreme environments in six continents. The GCGS system uses a high precision dual antenna NovAtel card that is capable of tracking all current and upcoming constellations. The system also integrates a high precision inclinometer to account for yard deviations and crane torquing due to loads. Precise GPS corrections are transmitted over a 900 MHZ radio system from a GPS Reference system with battery backup in case of power outages. A Wi-Fi or cellular network is used for real-time tracking and remote locations.
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The GCGS system is installed on Rubber Tire Gantry (RTG) cranes and provides information to the steering system to keep them on Virtual Lines that keeps container rows uniformly aligned allowing for easier placement and retrieval of containers. With the GCGS installed customers have seen an increase in productivity. The system can also reduce crane collisions with yard infrastructure (light poles, trains, etc.) and greatly increased operational safety. Geofernces can also be created that allows cranes to be controlled differently depending on the area they are operating in.
The Virtual Lines are created using the CraneNav system installed in a crane referenced to a calibration point in the yard. Virtual Lines can be easily changed by gathering data by simply operating the crane in the desired area.
